Day 3 (Dia 3)-Asamblea de paraguas

As many of you know, the word paraguas means "umbrella" in Spanish. So, you may be wondering why today's title is what it is...or you may have almost no interest. But, please keep that to yourself and don't burst my egotistical bubble. Anyway, today we had the privilege of attending the zone meeting in Guayaquil. There were 21,500 in attendance...of course I'm referring to the number of paraguas.  Seated below this sea of colors there were actually over 31,000 brothers and sisters, as well as interested ones and bible students. And as the day warmed the umbrellas started sprouting like spring flowers and with each new "bloom" our view of the stage became more and more obscured.

hey, where did the stage go?

this red one might not seem that spectacular but that sister was the definition of a multi-tasker - holding the umbrella over her son who was sleeping on her lap, fanning him with her watchtower and taking notes.

But the real highlights were:

They announced that they will be holding their first class for christian couples in Ecuador at the end of 2012.

There was a record peak of  75,987 publishers in November.  During April, 1 in 2 publishers in Ecuador were either regular or aux. pioneering.

There are groups or congregations in 11 different languages here.

The meeting was definitely geared towards motivating the friends to learn a foreign language if possible in order to take care of the growing need.  Anyone out there that would like to learn Quechua or Shuar?

The point was driven home with the talk by a brother from the branch committee interviewing missionaries serving in various parts of Ecuador.  First, was Peter & Karen Verde from Holland, serving the past 21 years in Ecuador and currently have the assignment of preaching the islands off the coast. They have a sign on their boat that says "Testigos de Jehova" which serves a dual purpose in the territory - giving a testimony to the people and keeping the pirates away, yes pirates!  In addition to preaching "de isla en isla", they preach "de buque en buque" (cargo ship to cargo ship). Brother Verde is in his element because he was a sailor when he was 16, received one of our books before he left his parents/home and learned the truth.

Second was Juana & Roberto Vasquez, originally from Puerto Rico, have served here 13 years and their circuit is practically the whole country because their circuit is all the language groups. but don't worry, before you get too stressed it only includes the easy ones like Russian, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Shuar, etc. This sister's experience was a bit scary for us. She's deathly afraid of insects but of course her assignment includes the parts of Ecuador with the biggest, scariest insects-as her husband mentioned this includes spiders the size of his hand, making going to the bathroom a terrifying experience. Apparently the spider Ryan saw (where we are going) a few weeks ago has a family. One time she got bitten on her legs, but stopped counting the bites when she got to 90 and had to start counting the other leg. Finally they interviewd brother Scott Ness from the US serving in the Shuar language. He talked about his territory, driving 30 miles, then walking 6 hours through mud, spending the night, waking up and walking another 8 hours( - please consult your OM book and let us know when you start your time) He also shared the experience of having 21 interested people gathered around an IPOD watching the Noah video in their language.

All in all it was a great day, with more than 48,000 in attendance in all of Ecuador. we are thankful that it didn't rain, we brought tp, it was mostly cloudy and only 80 something degrees. But erik is not so thankful he didn't put sunblock on his wrists and hands (apparently you can burn on a cloudy day this close to the equator)

 the stadium









Keila and her Bible student with her daughter and 2 granddaughters



These are friends from Keila & Aarons congregation - seriously the whole congregation is inside there! All you can see is the coordinator and 2 other brothers with the "good" seats. But don't worry, it was only an hour back home. (Matt. 20:26,27).

If you read yesterday (and your still here) you may recognize this bowl - we don't know how he stays so thin.

Tonight they took us to try Sorbet, which is like a fruit smoothie made with milk-no ice (so they told us, we'll let u know tomorrow - ice is made with tap water - tap water causes diar....let's not go there).  We tried 6 different kinds (maybe 6 more tomorrow) - all were delicious! The friends here have been wonderful.  In fact, Keila's aunt prepared Ecuadorian tamales last night (after the sorbets) when we got home - no, in case your wondering we r not losing weight!

Well tomorrow we are off to Bethel and then off to the beach for a few days before heading to our final destination in Cumbaratza.

Keep in touch and thanks for your encouraging comments. We love you and miss you.(Los queremos mucho y los echamos de menos)

PS Papito - we'll post the pics of Candy and Bridgette tomorrow.